Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 664 The World Is Big 1
Yang Menglong looked at the dozen or so raised hands, frowned and said, "You don't need so many people, one or two is enough!"

Those sea merchants raised their hands higher... It would be better if there were fewer people. As long as there are only one or two, it is basically a monopoly. Anyone who is not a business idiot will know how scary the profits of a monopoly are!They looked at Yang Menglong eagerly, almost pouting in a cute way, with two big words clearly written on their faces: Choose me, choose me!

Yang Menglong casually pointed at the white and clean sea merchant: "Liang Rongrong, I entrust you with the business of transporting guano, phosphate rock, and timber."

The white and clean guy was so happy that he couldn't see his teeth.The demand for guano, phosphate rock and wood is very scary, especially guano and phosphate rock, which are used to make phosphate fertilizers. There is basically no limit to the demand, and you can use as much as you come. Daming has hundreds of millions of acres of land, how much guano and phosphate rock would be needed to meet the needs?Not to mention the wood. The precious wood such as golden nanmu and red sandalwood produced in Nanyang has always been in high demand. Some giant trees with a rough circumference and a length of 50 meters are indispensable for shipbuilding. If you want to build thousands of tons of wood The big guy has to use this kind of huge wood as the main mast, otherwise it will hang.If these two businesses are done well, his career will be further improved, the future is boundless, and the future generations will also benefit from it!
Naturally, all the sea merchants would not be ignorant of the huge benefits hidden in these two businesses. Such a big piece of fat would fly away, and they all looked at Yang Menglong with resentful expressions, similar to those of a resentful woman... Boss, so Why don't you give me a good thing?Why don't you discuss it with us?How unfair!

Yang Menglong pointed at another dark and thin-looking maritime merchant, but he was still steady: "You will do the transportation of tin, manganese, sulfur, copper ore, etc."

The black buddy danced happily, throwing away the prudence just now.This is also a big business, with such a vote, it's hard for him not to get rich!

All maritime merchants, you look at me, I look at you, I want to cry from the bottom of my heart.They have been working on it for a long time, but they have no share in this big business. This is too unfair!They plucked up the courage to shout: "Master Hou, isn't this too unfair? Our financial resources and reputation are no worse than those of Brother Liang and Brother Gu. Why didn't they choose us before you? Why?"

Yang Menglong rolled his eyes: "Do I need to discuss with you who I choose, huh?"

The sea merchants immediately withered.This is completely a buyer's market. Yang Menglong really doesn't need to discuss with them which one to choose. If you get the wheel, you're lucky. If you don't get the wheel, you have to wait for the next time.But they are not reconciled. This is a business with a very promising development prospect. It can be said that as long as Yang Menglong is still in Huguang, or as long as Yang Menglong is still in Daming, the people who help him with sea transportation will not worry. Can't make money!It was a pity that such a good business would be gone.

Yang Menglong patted the table and said: "Okay, okay, don't look dead, didn't I say that the demand is not very big right now, there are more wolves and less meat, if you all rush to do it, it will be easy to fight, then On the contrary, it’s not good. When the demand increases in the future, these two companies will be too busy, and you will naturally be involved.”

The faces of the maritime merchants are even worse. What does this mean?When those two families can’t finish their meal, do you want to share the leftovers with them?
Yang Menglong shrugged, a little helpless.He can't help it, the foreigners have tried their best to help him find ore and log, and the mined ore and felled wood are piled up like mountains, but at this time the foreigner's transportation capacity can't keep up with it, and Daming's sea is needed. Businesses are involved to fill the vacancy in this part.Of course, according to Yang Menglong's idea, it is best to let the maritime merchants of Ming Dynasty take over all the transportation business, and the foreigners can only be responsible for mining, but this idea is unrealistic, why are the foreigners willing to give up such a big piece of fat?So now Daming Marine is still on the bench.Seeing that everyone was annoyed, he immediately threw out a second piece of fat: "I decided to form a fleet and sell our products to Japan, Southeast Asia, Persia and the West. Who is interested? Raise your hand !"

All the sea merchants raised their hands instinctively, but they retracted halfway and looked at each other, all hesitant.

Yang Menglong frowned and asked, "What's the matter? If you're not interested, just tell me, I'll find someone else, not my mother-in-law!"

A sea merchant in his 30s stood up. He was ordinary-looking, but he had a pair of ambitious eyes and was full of desire for wealth and power. This kind of person was Yang Menglong's ideal partner. Yang Menglong didn't like to work with A group of old guys who have been in the loess for a long time.The name of this sea merchant was Yao Chonggu, whose ancestral home was in Henan. In the Yuan Dynasty, his family moved to Guangdong to escape the chaos of war.He cupped his hands to Yang Menglong and said, "Master Hou doesn't know something. Life on the sea is really not as easy as you think! When encountering storms or hidden reefs, no matter how big the ship is, it will sink, even if there are no such dangers. Life is not easy, the cabin is stuffy and hot, drinking water is scarce, and diseases are common. Every time we go to sea, some sailors will not come back! You say let us travel to Nanyang, Annan, Japan, and North Korea. I'm very familiar with you, but you said you want to go to Persia, Tessie... I'm worried that if we go out with a whole boat, half of them may come back alive!"

Liang Rongrong said: "Yes, it's easy to go to North Korea and Annan. There are many places where you can stop for supplies. If you go to Japan, it's okay. If you go to Nanyang, it will be miserable. If you leave the shore for too long, you will easily get infected. Blood disease, bleeding gums one by one, and finally died in extreme pain, there is no cure!"

An old man with a gray beard said: "If you go to Japan and Annan, it's okay. There is plenty of fresh water. You can use it to grow some bean sprouts. Everyone eats some, which can prevent this disease. But it's not good to go to Nanyang. There is not enough water to drink. Not to mention using it to grow bean sprouts! If you go to Nanyang, you will die, let alone go to Taixi and Persia, which are farther away, you will shudder if you think about it!"

A group of maritime merchants nodded in agreement, and even the foreigners who listened to the translation felt sympathetic.Traveling across the ocean sounds exciting, but if you were to go back to the age of great voyages, you wouldn’t be a sailor if you were killed!In the era of great voyages where navigation technology was underdeveloped, ocean voyages were like death. The long and dangerous voyages made people crazy. Summer storms could easily shoot a fleet into the bottom of the sea, and winter icebergs were even worse. Dangerous, no matter how big a ship hits, it will be smashed to pieces, and the blade-like reef hides sinisterly under the water, waiting for the ship to pass by, and then disembowels it... In addition, there are pirates, these guys are more powerful than piranhas. Horrible, when meeting them, women can still rely on their looks to save their lives, but men will be miserable, 1% will die!Even if everything is going smoothly, the days will not be easy, the cabin is airtight, hot and stuffy, and the interior space is extremely narrow, often more than a dozen sailors share a small room, smell of sweat, foot odor, musty... It can be described as a mixed array of flavors.At sea, all supplies are quite scarce. For example, fresh water can only be said to be barely enough to drink. Don’t count on bathing or anything. It’s better to wait for it to rain and rush to the deck to take a shower and rub the old mud on your body. drop it.The moody sea often makes jokes about these sailors. It was raining like arrows in the first minute. When the sailors stripped off their clothes, wiped their soap and ran out excitedly to take a shower, a gust of wind blew away the dark clouds and the sun came out again... So taking a bath at sea is really a technical job, you must have a quick eye, otherwise you will take a bath with soap.

So, what do you use to wash your clothes at sea?

It scares you to death, it’s sea water!
Washing clothes in sea water... I can only imagine what it feels like to wear such clothes.

In addition, there is fatal scurvy. Due to years of drifting at sea and lack of essential vitamin C, sailors are prone to scurvy and eventually die.The sailors were very afraid of this disease that caused their gums to bleed continuously, but they did not know why they contracted this fatal disease, let alone how to cure it. They could only regard it as a curse from the devil.In fact, it is very simple to treat scurvy. Just eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. The problem is that even today's ocean-going navy cannot eat vegetables and fruits as much as they want, let alone the Age of Discovery?So if you get scurvy, you can only consider yourself unlucky.However, Chinese maritime merchants are smarter. If conditions permit, they will plant some bean sprouts on the ship to eat, which can effectively prevent scurvy. However, there is always a lack of fresh water on the ship. Bean sprouts are a luxury product. Only a few people can eat them. Others can only continue. I gnawed on the bread and dried meat with a grimace. Some of these things were infested with worms. As for the taste... I can only say that eating them would not kill anyone.

When Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, he owned several giant treasure ships, which were large ships with a displacement of more than 200 tons. Even after more than [-] years, Europe still did not have the ability to manufacture such giant ships.The space of the treasure ship is undoubtedly very sufficient, so much so that the sailors can actually transport soil and set up a small vegetable shed on the deck to grow vegetables. This shows that the Sanbao eunuch will never be worried about bleeding gums. of.It's just that the imperial court can build a large ship like a treasure ship, but ordinary seamen will definitely lose their heads if they build it, so everyone can only continue to be a rat on a sea ship with a displacement of only six to seven hundred tons.Precisely because life at sea is so difficult and dangerous, people are not very enthusiastic about doing business in Persia and Europe.Everyone knows that these two places are very wealthy. If you trade a shipload of silk, tea, and porcelain there, you can earn more money than you can spend in ten lifetimes. The problem is that you have to reach the other side with your life. Even if you have your life, you may not reach your destination. If you are destined to return to the Ming Dynasty, why bother?
Yang Menglong snorted: "I heard people say that Guangdong's maritime merchants are very kind, and they are not afraid of wind and waves, whale sharks, where the benefits lie, they can also go through mountains of swords and seas of fire. I didn't expect you to be just a bunch of cowards!"

As if sitting on a durian, all the sea merchants jumped up, blushing and shouting loudly: "Hou Ye, please don't insult us! The world is so big, there is nothing we are afraid of!"

(End of this chapter)